I admit that I expected the worst when I pressed play on Y2K. I hadn't heard many people saying good things about it, and I wasn't sure I could trust the praise that came from some people who seemed to revel in the nostalgia inherent in the premise. Thank goodness I never let such things put me off though, and now I can be one of the few other people encouraging others to give this one some time.
It's a very certain New Year's Eve. The new century is approaching, and the news has a lot of talk about the millennium bug, with some people warning about it and others reassuring everyone that all will be well. Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) are two high-school friends who are more concerned with spending some time at a cool party, where Eli can hopefully spend some time in the company of the cool and gorgeous Laura (Rachel Zegler). The partying and celebrations end up rudely interrupted, however, by a "glitch" that causes all computers, and any piece of tech, to rise up and attack the humans, aiming to ultimately enslave them as a power source.
The directorial debut of Kyle Mooney, who already has years of acting experience under his belt, this is a horror comedy co-written by himself and Evan Winter that can be nicely summed up as the result of people rewatching Maximum Overdrive far too many times before then wondering how it would play out if the laughs were intentional. It's very light and silly from the very first scenes, setting up an onscreen world akin to any seen in John Hughes movies of the 1980s, and just gets sillier when the robo-carnage begins, which is all well and good when the film-makers themselves know how wonderfully absurd the whole thing is.
Martell and Zegler are decent leads, and Dennison delivers another performance that ensures he'll keep being cast as the young man who can be relied upon to deliver a healthy dose of fun and self-confidence. Daniel Zolghadri and Lachlan Watson play two supporting characters who start off feeling a bit too underdeveloped and mildly irritating before turning into people you don't mind spending some time with, Eduardo Franco continues to be someone I now enjoy popping up in anything, Mason Gooding cements his "scream king" reputation with another solid turn, and there's a fantastic cameo appearance I won't spoil here, despite the fact that most of you will already know all about it.
The pacing works well, especially as the characters desperately try to escape one threat after another, the soundtrack is full of some great tracks from a quarter of a century ago, the practical effects are entertainingly lo-fi and absolutely in line with the tone of the whole thing, and this is entertaining fun for those who go into it with an open mind. I laughed more times at this than I have laughed at some recent outright comedies, and the third act delivered a level of cheesiness that will work on those who retain any fondness for the music and memories of the turn of the 21st century. In fact . . . I kind of loved it.
8/10
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